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NEW DAY SUNDAY

Seven Killed, 48 Hurt In London Terror Attacks; British Prime Minister Blames "Islamist Extremism" For Attacks; Manchester Concert Will Go Ahead: "We Must Not Be Afraid"; London Mayor Responds To Terror Attack; President Trump Renews Call For Travel Ban; London Terror Attack Eyewitness Accounts Aired 6-7a

Aired June 4, 2017 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[06:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- this country has been talking about for nearly six years. They tried to introduce a bill for the past two years, a counter-extremism bill, which failed because they failed to define extremism in a legally water tight way. So it will be important to find out what exactly Theresa May is proposing beyond a very wide sweeping statement.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, Peter and Juliette. Thank you. We'll be back to you in a moment, but we're just going to take a break with a continuation of this breaking news right now.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And we want to wish you a good morning. Welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. We will go back to Christiane Amanpour in London in just a moment.

PAUL: But we do want to cover the breaking news to get you caught up on the terror attack in heart of London. Just moments ago, British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke about these attacks. She blamed specifically Islamic extremism for the attacks and said there is, quote, "too much tolerance of extremism" in the U.K.

Went on to say that they had to form a new strategy to fight that kind of terrorism not just militarily, but also in terms of what's on the web and online.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Eliminating what she called those safe spaces for extremism. Right now, forensic investigators are at the site of terror attack looking for evidence after a night of violence and fear. As we know seven people are dead, at least 48 people are seriously injured.

We know from the mayor of London that some of them are in critical condition. Now after police say a van barreled into pedestrians on London Bridge, the attackers then jumped out of the van and stabbed people in nearby borough market. Metropolitan Police this morning are telling people near the scene of the attack to stay inside. PAUL: CNN is covering this story from all angles.

BLACKWELL: We have CNN anchor and chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour in London, CNN senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward outside of the British Parliament, and CNN international correspondent, Phil Black in Manchester.

Let's go now to Christiane first. Christiane, give us more of what you're hearing this morning and the really important comments that we heard from the British Prime Minister Theresa May saying some of what we heard before but taking several steps further than what we have heard her ago before.

AMANPOUR: That's right. In just the last half hour, we saw the prime minister come outside and make a fairly defiant and extensive declaration on what happened and what needs to happen and on what she considers the threat as we are as close as we can get to London Bridge where that van swerved, got on to a curb and attacked people in a vehicle and then ran three attackers to borough market and started stabbing people.

We know that the death toll sounds at seven right now, 48 people in hospitals. According to the mayor, some of those critically wounded and the police remain on very, very high alert. But we did hear Theresa May say that five plots have been disrupted since March. This is now the third that has happened since March.

Westminster in March, Manchester as we saw two weeks ago, London, as we saw last night. She laid the blame squarely at what she called a violent Islamist extremist ideology. She said none of these, as far as security knows, is connected physically or in terms of a network but all are connected, she said, with a violent and radical ideology that needs to be defeated.

And that she had cannot be defeated by military or intelligence or police means alone, but had to be defeated by ideology and, of course by the internet where she says gives a safe space.

Clarissa Ward is at Downing Street right now. You were there when she was talking and she was very forward leaning on the necessity of combating the ideology -- Clarissa.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christiane. I mean, she wasn't mincing her words. She said it quite clearly enough is enough. She said that Great Britain has been too tolerant for too long of extremism. She also called out social media companies and tech companies saying that they have to bear more responsibility for the fact that these social media sites have become somewhat of a breeding ground.

And that has allowed these so-called copycat killings in a sense. She did make it quite clear that the three attacks that we've seen in the U.K. in the last three months are not connected and yet somehow the ideology, which is being spread on the social media sites is inspiring so many young people to launch these kind of attacks. And that's why we are seeing recurring themes such as the use of vehicles. We saw the use of vehicles as a weapon in the attack in Nice last summer. We saw it again in Berlin over Christmas. We saw it on Westminster Bridge.

And that's because we have seen ISIS come out repeatedly and say to their followers, listen, if you can't get a hold of a gun or you can't build a bomb yourself, take whatever you can and improvise, use a rock, a knife, a vehicle.

[06:05:12]And of course, that message that gets proliferated over these social media sites and sort of disseminates onwards to followers and lone wolves and people who might be inspired on the ground. So she was very tough on those.

Now she also said that life will go on as normal. Today, campaigning has been cancelled for the day. The British election, Britons will go to the poll and pick their next prime minister on Thursday, but campaigning will resume tomorrow.

Life will go about as usual. She did not crucially, Christiane, raise the threat level to critical, which by the way, this time a week ago it was at critical. That was the highest that have been in a decade but not this time.

She said there is no need for that now, but everyone keeping a very close eye on it. One final point I would just add, Christiane, which is so striking, she said five other terror plots have been foiled in last few months.

But beyond that, we heard from security services after the Manchester attack that there are some 500 investigations going on into potential terrorist activity involving some 3,000 individuals. That really gives you a sense of the scale and scope of the problem that Britain is up against -- Christiane.

AMANPOUR: Clarissa, thanks. And you mentioned Manchester where our Phil Black is. Just barely two weeks after that devastating attack that killed 22 people and put dozens in the hospital, again, many in critical conditions.

Ariana Grande is coming back to give a concert tonight along with Coldplay and others for the benefit of the victims. Phil, it's incredible that it's going forward, given not just how soon it is after that attack but in the aftermath barely 24 hours after the London attack.

PHIL BLACK, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Christiane. It was always meant as a defiant event. It takes on a whole new residence now after the events in London. The organizers of the concert say it will continue and with greater purpose and they feel a responsibility to those lost, injured, and affected in Manchester and London.

It is all about giving a powerful message that says hatred and fear cannot win. So with all of that in mind, it's going ahead and going ahead in an environment that you can only describe as really still very emotional.

There is a great deal of emotion, raw emotion in Manchester, still two weeks after the attack here. We still see huge numbers of people here coming to the memorial in the center of town leaving tributes stopping to think.

We've seen people crying openly today and that is still happening. Now today the people in Manchester know that those in London are feeling exactly what they are feeling. Those feelings are even more intense as a result of that.

So for all of those reasons it's going to be an emotional night. And of course, there are huge logistical challenges here too, 50,000 people will be attending this event and security is clearly the priority.

Policing that event searching every single individual that goes into the concert that is going to take an incredible amount of resources and manpower and planning and on top of that, they still have to continue protecting the city at large as well.

Here in Manchester there is so much that says the city has gone back to normal in many ways, but it really hasn't because the security presence is so high. The emotion is still very visible here on the streets.

It's very raw, Christiane, all leading up to this concert involving Ariana Grande, her return to the city and that long list of international performers. The like of Coldplay, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, some of the biggest names in international pop music will be here.

All of it, the fans, the people who will be attending all united in this common purpose to try to send a powerful message, one that will help heal this city they hope -- Christiane.

AMANPOUR: At least show some defiance and solidarity. Phil Black, thank you very much. We are going to be hearing from Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London as we see much more police, much more security on the streets, and ask him, what can, if anything, be done to prevent this again. That is after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:37]

AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program. We are near London Bridge, as close as police will allow us to get, in the aftermath of this deadly attack late last night, in which seven people, we understand now, the death toll has been raised to seven and 48 people injured, some of those critically.

We're going to go straight to the London Mayor Sadiq Khan who has already announced that there's been a much higher police and security presence on the streets this morning and he is at Scotland Yard.

Mayor Khan, thank you for joining us.

Can you tell us -- you know, the Met Police chief earlier today said these are, quote, "hard to predict and hard to prevent." As we have seen three months of attacks here in London. Are you preparing for more of this? What can you tell the people of London?

MAYOR SADIQ KHAN, LONDON: Well, look, at the moment, words can't describe the word and the anger and the grief our city is feeling. We saw last night terrorists deliberately targeted innocent Londoners and visitors to our city enjoying a Saturday night out. And there can be no justification for these evil and cowardly acts of terror.

We recognize over the last two or three months, we have seen an attack on Westminster Bridge. We have seen an attack in Manchester. We have seen an attack last night.

[06:15:00]Now, the reality is, over the last four years, because of the fantastic work of the police and the security services, as a result of the cooperation of the communities, we have thwarted a number of attacks over the last four years. But, unfortunately, in March and in April and now today, last night, we have seen terrorists be successful.

What we need to do is make sure that just like the terrorists evolving and finding new ways to harm us, to disrupt us, we've got to find and involve new ways to keep us safe. So, over the next few days, Londoners and visitors will be seeing an increased police presence that will include increased armed officers, increased uniform officers, but also plain clothes officers as well.

The threat level will remain severe, Christiane. That means that an attack is highly likely. It's been that level for a while now since the Manchester attack. That means visitors to our city, Londoners should know that we are the safest global city in the world. One of the reasons why we are kept safe is because of the hard work of our police and emergency services.

AMANPOUR: Right. Well, on that note, obviously, you've all been touting correctly the massively fast response last night and how these people were killed, the attackers, the three of them were taken down within, we are told, eight minutes of the first call.

But the Metropolitan Police, where you are right now, the chief, Cressida Dick, said, this is, obviously, going to require a whole new discussion about our level of resources.

I've just been speaking to a former deputy commissioner who said that the systemic cuts in police, bodies on the streets, the people who go into the cafes and into people's homes and talk and make relationships on the streets, they have been cut and that can't go on for much longer. That has to be reversed. Do you agree?

KHAN: I agree. I've been saying for a period now that I think it's not sustainable to carry on reducing resources the Met Police service and our police service receive. Today is not a day for party politics, though. Today is a day to make sure we investigate what happened last night, but also do what we can to keep our city safe.

But you're right. The basic premise has to be to recognize, just like terrorists are finding new ways to harm us, we've got to evolve and find new ways to keep us safe. Part of that is to recognize that the most valuable source of intelligence we receive is from members of the community.

And that means police in wide consent (ph), having police officers in our communities who the communities trust to provide information with, but also an increased police officer presence in London and that includes increased numbers of armed officers.

We don't want to be an armed police service, but we do need to make sure we have efficient numbers of armed officers across our city. I'm confident that the armed officers we have do a brilliant job. We've got the right number for the moment. I authorized an additional 600 when I became the mayor.

The response last night was fantastic. Within a couple of minutes, the police had emergency services were there. They tackled the terrorist head on, and shot them, shot them dead, but also tended to the injured as well, but also two officers off-duty acted heroically as well.

But you're right. We've got to make sure we're at the right level of resources commensurate with the threat we face as a global city who the terrorists clearly want to attack.

AMANPOUR: I just want to ask you whether you know of any other, you know, plot or extensive -- if you know of any other details from the Met Police. But also I want ask you because you did win, you're London's first Muslim mayor. And you won on the platform of hope over fear.

And now, the prime minister is saying there needs to be sometimes difficult and perhaps embarrassing conversations amongst many, many people to root out this threat from within communities. As you said, there is too much tolerance of extremism in London. How do you read that and what needs to happen next in that regard?

KHAN: Well, just to reassure your viewers, London is the safest global city in the world. The threat level hasn't changed as a result of last night. Properties have been raided this morning and we are not increasing the threat level any higher than it currently is.

To reassure Londoners and visitors, and also to make sure we're safe, there will be increased police presence over the course of today and the next few days. I've said for a while now, we're going to make sure in the West that we recognize that, actually, Islam is not incompatible with Western liberal values.

Actually, terrorists think that Islam isn't compatible with the West, and the two are mutually exclusive. I've always said that's not the case. What we need to do is make sure we are teaching our youngsters the resilience. [06:20:08]So when it comes to somebody trying to indoctrinate them, brainwash them, groom them, nowadays, it's mainly via by the Internet, they have the resilience to reject that perverse, twisted ideology.

But also, we've got to make sure that as we're successful in stopping physically creature of hate going into mosques or halls, or other places, we aren't inadvertently them through the back door by the Internet.

So, we've got to work with the Internet service providers to make sure they're not hosting preachers who are, you know, espousing this poison ideology, but also, once they are alerted to this stuff, that they take down this stuff as soon as possible.

All of us have to work together to make sure we don't allow a terrorist to cause terror in our communities, but also to fuel division. Look, what do they want? They want us to be scared and to be coward.

What do they want? They want us to turn against each other. They want us to not celebrate our civil liberties and human rights. They want us to not vote this Thursday in the general election.

Look, Britons change leaders is by the ballot box. We enjoy mixing and mingling on a Saturday night. We're not going to change that. We mustn't allow them to change our way of life.

AMANPOUR: Mayor Sadiq Khan, thank you so much for joining us. We will take a short break. When we come back, we will have more of

those eyewitness reports to that dramatic attack last night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:43]

PAUL: So grateful to welcome you this morning our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Christiane Amanpour is live with us in London and we will return to her in just a moment.

PAUL: As we cover the breaking news this morning, the terror attack in the heart of London and the aftermath we are watching now. The British prime minister blaming Islamist extremism for the attack. She said, Theresa May, quote, "We need to review Britain's counterterrorism strategy to make sure police have the powers they need."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It is time to say enough is enough. Everybody needs to go about their lives as they normally would. Our society should continue to function in accordance with our values, but when it comes to taking on extremism and terrorism, things need to change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Right now, forensic investigators are at the site of the attack looking for evidence after this night of violence. Seven people are dead. At least 48 people are seriously injured. Here is what happened last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Terror in London. Starting with a van careening into crowds of people on the city's iconic London Bridge and ending with several stabbings in a popular restaurant area. It is the third terror attack in the U.K. in the last three months. Police say they shot and killed three attackers.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: About six or seven sometimes we heard guns going off down the street and each time three or four maybe more gunshots at a time. We probably heard about 10 to 15 gunshots.

BLACKWELL: Calls started coming in shortly after 10:00 p.m. local time of people being mowed down by a van on London Bridge. One eyewitness describes the van speeding, swerving, hitting several people and tossing one person 20 feet into the air.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Within my line of sight, there were five or six bodies that I could see on the ground of people who were not moving.

BLACKWELL: Seconds later, the van crashed near borough market, the bar and restaurant area that was packed on a busy Saturday night. According to police the suspects got out and started stabbing people.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I literally turned around and there were three men standing there, one of which had a machete and had this sort of belt on. We didn't really -- they just looked at us and I didn't really know what to do.

BLACKWELL: That market area is where police say they shot and killed the three male suspects. This image from the scene of what could be two of the assailants on the ground. London's mayor has this message for his city.

KHAN: Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days. No reason to be alarmed. I'm reassured that we are one of the safest global cities in the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: CNN, of course, has a constant presence there in London, as well as in Manchester where we have learned the concert with Ariana Grande is, indeed, moving forward so stay here with the latest developments on the London attack this morning.

BLACKWELL: Let's go now live back to chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, who is as close as possible to the scene of the start of this attack at the London Bridge.

AMANPOUR: That's right. As you've said, you know, the last couple of hours the death toll has risen to seven. There are 48 people in hospitals around London and many of those in critical condition.

We had an exclusive interview with the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who said that this is all really going to focus everybody on new methods of trying to keep safe. These are the discussions under way.

But they praise the police for their very rapid response in taking down the three attackers as they say within eight minutes of getting the first call. Also world leader reaction is pouring in. The first was Emmanuel Macron of France who had his own French terrorism over the year 2015 including a truck attack in Nice.

And there are four French citizens who have been wounded according to French officials. One of those apparently seriously. Vladimir Putin also Angela Merkel, the European leaders, Justin Trudeau, many of the commonwealth leaders all condemning what happened here overnight and pledging support as well.

As President Trump tweeted overnight offering whatever help possible and saying that the United States stands with Great Britain.

We go now to Juliette Kayyem, CNN security analyst and expert and former homeland security official.

[06:30:00] Juliette, you've been listening to the developments and what the officials are saying, both the elected officials and also the security and police officials here. When you look at this, how do you slot it into a new reality?

We've got three attacks here in Great Britain in the last three months. They are not all the same. Two of these vehicle bridge and knife attacks. One suicide bombing attack just two weeks ago in Manchester. Has the prime minister saying they are not all connected but they are connected, she had, by an ideology.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That's exactly right. And she was pretty strong about that. My big take away from her announcement I would say in tone with significantly different even from the Manchester statement that she had were the words, enough is enough.

Those were political words. She has a campaign coming up but they were also, I think, a sign that the challenges Britain has had regarding sort of integration, some of their counterterrorism laws that she if she wins again in the election will be pushing those much further. And so you will -- I think you would expect the sort of political push in terms of laws, freedom of association, surveillance of mosques. I think she was really tipping her hat to that.

One of the reasons why of course is what you said, which is these are not related. You have three attacks in a relatively short period of time all of them successful to some degree. Manchester, of course, being the worst. And none of them tied to each other. Now, we don't know what this most recent attack, whether there are outside forces that brought those three together to plan this attack, or if it was sort of self-radicalization amongst three men. But it is a different type of attack that we have seen before. This is not a lone wolf attack. It is more akin to 2005 where you have a group that is planning an attack and even though it wasn't very sophisticated, just a car and a knife, of course just, you know, sort of reigns terror in London as they go into an election week.

AMANPOUR: Exactly. As the Met police chief said, hard to predict as you can see and, therefore, hard to prevent.

As I said, Donald Trump, the president, tweeted overnight support for Great Britain and we are with you, but also talked about, you know, re-upping his plea for his Muslim travel ban to be reinstated. Talking about stopping people from coming in.

And you just mentioned immigration here in England. But most of these -- we don't know who these people are and they are being investigated the attackers but most of them that we have seen the last more than a year or so have been home-grown. So put the political context in -- with the -- with the security and policing context.

KAYYEM: Right. So this is the challenge is that, you know, people can believe -- right -- that this is some outside influence of people infiltrating from Syria and Iraq but you just look at the data. Both in the United States and in Britain and in France, these are home- grown terrorists. Some of them are first generation, some are second generation. They were born in that country.

Here in the United States these are men that are not immigrants in a lot of the cases and who became radicalized here. So this idea that there is some outside way or policy that we can stop these bad things from coming in is just not -- it's just not realistic.

And so, you know, the Muslim ban, simply would not be a solution to what we are seeing in Europe because the Muslim ban of course would not apply to Britain or France, at least as understood right now. But it's something that people sort of have in their head and it's just simply not true.

These are domestic internal problems having to do with radicalization and they are very difficult to stop. So then that gets to the second piece which is this was also a success. It's very hard for people to admit that, but in some ways, the measure of success of these terror attacks in terms of their capacity to kill lots of people, the response time, the ability of the city to get back up and running is measured by the quick response of first responders.

So one of the reasons people like me have been saying this was an incredible response is because you had a more limited death toll than you might otherwise have. Unfortunately, in this day and age that's how you sometimes measure success.

AMANPOUR: Indeed. And as you talk about quick responses, you can hear the sirens. Still ambulances and, obviously, police. There is a much heightened presence, rather, right now of all the security and emergency service and that is likely to continue for a while.

We're going to take a quick break. We are going back now to Christi and Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Christiane, thanks so much.

And you mentioned the sirens there and investigation that's going on. We have learned from Mayor Sadiq Khan of London there that that there are raids going on now right now on properties in London this morning.

[06:35:02]

So this investigation which, obviously, began immediately after this attack is now expanding as there are still several areas, several blocks that are cordoned off across London.

PAUL: Yes. A fluid situation although he did also mention that he's not raising the terror level there.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: It will remain at the severe level, although, obviously, it is all heightened right now.

U.S. cities are on high alert we should point out after these London attacks all over the place, including maybe even here in the United States. President Trump, his offering to help the U.K. and he brings up his travel ban saying that is the best way to keep the U.S. safe. We'll talk about that. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Terror alert is at severe. Police are raiding certain properties in London. This is happening this morning after the terror attack overnight in the heart of that city.

Moments ago, Mayor Sadiq Khan spoke about the terror attacks themselves. Let's listen.

[06:40:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR SADIQ KHAN, LONDON: Today is not a day for party politics though. Today is a day to make sure we investigate what happened last night but also do what we can to keep our city safe.

But you're right. The basic premise has to be to recognize just like terrorist, finding new ways to harm us, we have got to evolve and find new ways to keep us safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: We know police have carried out raids on properties across London this morning and forensic investigators are at the site of the attack, looking for evidence, asking people inside those cordoned areas to stay inside.

Seven people are dead, 48 people at least are still in the hospitals with serious injuries -- some of them. CNN international correspondent Isa Soares is live at Borough Market. What is happening where you are?

ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Let me give you a sense, Victor. This is the main high street where it all unfolded yesterday.

And if I just get the camera just spin to the left you'll be able to see past the cameras there. A group of people there trying to get past the cordoned. Now if you remember yesterday, this area was all of the hotel and many hotels and restaurants completely emptied by the police. Now we have been told that people are being allowed back into the hotels to collect their suitcases. This is, of course, a very touristy area. It's very close to London Bridge, lots of bars and restaurants.

This is the first time we have seen people going back into the hotels to try and collect their luggage as they go inside one-by-one, what I've seen is police speaking to them, taking down just their notes of witnesses of what they saw. Interesting because when this was happening yesterday, Londoners were opening their doors to people who didn't have homes, this is the spirit of London, but nevertheless this cordoned remains in place because although as we heard from the met commissioner today although they believe this incidence is over, this investigation is ongoing, raids as you were saying that -- are still ongoing and although they don't know whether it's just those three individuals that were killed, they are trying to ascertain whether anyone else was involved in the planning.

I spoke to a witness this morning, Victor. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIERAN LOVELACE, EYEWITNESS TO ATTACK: It was like a big panic kind of thing.

SOARES: People running?

LOVELACE: People running. Some were screaming. Some were -- people were in tears from what they were -- what they were seeing and things like that.

SOARES: Yes.

LOVELACE: So I'd say it was a bit -- all a bit crazy. So many different emotions and things going on. At the same time also a lady, like a small family, locking her kids from around some corner. She probably seen things I hadn't seen. They were just -- the looks on their faces. You could tell like they are not going to recover so as well from that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: The man there very, very affected by what he saw yesterday because he thought it was just a car crash. When you went further down the bridge he realized that it was something bigger. London rattled by this horrific incident but of course, Christi and Victor, they have been saying they are not coward by terrorists.

PAUL: All right. Isa Soares, thank you so much for the update there from Borough Market.

BLACKWELL: Well, President Trump is being brief on the developments in London. He was quick to offer his support to the U.K. after the attack.

PAUL: Now the president also renewed his call for the travel ban saying the U.S. needs that extra level of security.

CNN Pentagon reporter Ryan Browne live for us in Washington. What are you hearing from there, Ryan?

RYAN BROWNE, CNN PENTAGON REPORTER: Well, Christi, as you said, Donald Trump was both quick to sound support for the U.K. He had a phone call with Prime Minister Theresa May where they discussed the issue. He tweeted out his support saying that, you know, the United States stood very close by as one of its key allies.

But he followed it up with another tweet, talking about the need to, in his words, kind of bring through the travel ban which, of course, would apply to several Muslim majority countries. Again, that travel -- those travel restrictions are currently going in front of the Supreme Court which will decide whether or not to allow it to go ahead as its constitutionality is determined. So again using this event in London, this terrorist attack, to draw attention back to his proposed restrictions on travel from these countries.

Now again it's not clear in this particular attack in London where the perpetrators are from, whether they were U.K. citizens or whether they were from some of the countries mentioned in these travel restriction. Of course the Manchester attack was conducted by a U.K. citizen with ties to Libya so that kind of case had a little bit of a relation to these travel restrictions.

But again President Trump very quick to kind of advocate on behalf of this -- in his words what he referred to as travel ban language that the administration had got away from but again kind of calling for new travel restrictions to go through on these Muslim majority countries and tying it to this most recent attack in London.

BLACKWELL: All right. Ryan Browne for us in Washington. Ryan, thank you so much.

[06:45:00]

PAUL: We're obviously going to continue to follow what's happening in London with the very latest as it is a very fluid situation. As we look ahead to this week, we will watch there. Also domestically, taking a look at what is going to happen in Washington.

Do not miss our live coverage, special coverage this week. Former FBI Director James Comey testifying before the Senate, that happens on Thursday. We will have it for you starting at 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN. BLACKWELL: Still to come we are learning more about those wounded in the attacks. Dozens of people being treated at hospitals. Five of them across London. We got a live update from one of those hospitals on the victims next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I visited one of the hospitals where the injured are being treated. There, I heard truly remarkable stories of extraordinarily brave actions by officers on and off duty who were first on the scene.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:50:02]

PAUL: Fluid situation in London right now as we get you back to our breaking news coverage of the terror attacks that happened overnight. London Mayor Sadiq Khan saying, the city needs to -- quote -- "Find and evolve new ways to keep everybody safe."

BLACKWELL: And we're just getting this in from the scene there. A video of the attack where seven people were killed, at least 48 seriously injured, after a van barreled into pedestrians on the London Bridge there.

The three men inside that van jumped out and stabbed people in a nearby Borough Market before they were shot and killed. I also want to update you on something we are getting in from the home secretary explaining why the terror threat level is not being raised. It is currently at severe.

The home secretary says that there are no additional elements at large after this attack which is why they are not raising it. You remember that they raised it after the Manchester attack and this is why because the police had to be absolutely sure there was no additional material, explosives out there.

They now, in this case, believe there are no additional elements. So it will be staying there at severe which means that another attack is likely but is not eminent.

PAUL: They are basically saying the three that they shot and killed are the three and it is now contained.

Saima Mohsin is at one of the hospitals. King's College Hospital I believe it is, where 14 of those who were injured were taken. Saima, what are you learning there this morning? How are -- how severe are some of these injuries?

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi, the hospital isn't releasing that information yet. The most information they have given us is in a statement overnight where they have said that 14 people were brought to the hospital here just after the incident both at London Bridge and Borough Market. They have told us that six of them are females, eight are males. So they haven't said whether they are children or adults either or the extent of their injuries. I can tell you that there is a massive police presence here at the hospital right around the perimeter. Five police vans alone just at the front of the hospital.

This is the main entrance. The accidents and emergency wing here, the ambulance entrance here as well. There are police officers on guard here for obvious reasons. Very heavily guarded hospital right now. Fourteen people were brought in overnight, one has been discharged.

We are asking the hospital for more information and we'll share that with you when we get it. As for people who are worried about their loved ones, they have told us that they are not dealing with people directly. They are asking everyone to call the Metropolitan Police Casualty Bureau. That number is widely available on social media and online. It's 0800-096-1233 if you are in the U.K. of course. But people who are worried should contact that number, 14 people are still being treated here -- Christi -- Victor.

PAUL: All right. Saima, real quickly any word on whether these hospitals collectively will give some sort of press conference or give out some more information about the people that they have there and what their conditions are?

MOHSIN: Yes. We have been asking about that this morning. And, indeed, if anyone plans to visit. The prime minister, the London mayor, as we have seen visits in the past, of course, to the victims.

Right now, they are keeping tight-lipped. We have called the press officer here several times and each time, he has been in some kind of emergency meeting with officials and staff here. So obviously, this is a hospital dealing with a major crisis.

The crisis response was quick to respond last night. We're told, that, of course, police responded within eight minutes determining the scenario that was unfolding on London Bridge and Borough Market. And then of course the ambulance is there too.

They are keeping tight-lipped. They're not sharing too much information, not sharing personal information or indeed information about the injuries. But of course as soon as there are any kind of press conferences, we will bring those to you -- Christi.

PAUL: Thank you, Saima. We appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: When we come back we will hear from more witnesses of this horrific attack there on London Bridge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUKA MILACIC, WITNESS, CANADIAN VISITOR: The police came in very quickly and took control of the situation but, again, there was a lot of noise, a lot of loud noises. Either more crashes or more gunshots. We weren't sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:58:24]

BLACKWELL: We are hearing from more of the witnesses of this tragedy that happened in London. The attacks as they happened. Bodies being thrown into the air. People being stabbed as well.

PAUL: Yes. It started, obviously, as a Saturday night on the town and this is what it turned into.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ROBERTS, EYEWITNESS (on the phone): I was on London Bridge. What I saw was a van coming across London Bridge. At a high speed, serving on and off the pavement. It knocked over several people, came within about 20 yard of where I was. It knocked somebody nearly 20 feet in the air.

We saw a car and saw a few bodies being flipped into the air. In my line of sight, there were five or six bodies that I could see on the ground of people who were not moving. About five -- 10 minutes later, I heard quite a lot of gunfire, that sounded like gunfire.

JACK APPLEBEE, EYEWITNESS, LOCAL RESTAURANT OWNER (on the phone): So I would about six or seven times we heard gunshots going off down the street. Each time, like three or four, maybe more gunshots at a time. First one probably heard about 10, 15 gunshots. I literally turned around and there were at least three men standing there. One (INAUDIBLE). This one girl started (ph) saying that, "They're stabbing everyone. They're stabbing people"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of panic.

MILACIC: A lot of commotion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. A lot. Just a lot of people -- actually they were taking -- well, they came out of their homes and some were barefoot.

NEIL PATE, WITNESS: Suddenly I hear police shouting so I keep my head down and then I turn around and there's this -- a heavy police presence pushing two, maybe three guys up against the wall.

MILACIC: People were just literally running away as fast as they possible could and taking direction from the police to the best of their abilities.

[07:00:05]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

PAUL: Always good to have your company. Welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world.